charter schools

It’s Monday, and I’m angry. I’m angry because, after a weekend of careful planning, after differentiating an assignment for students who have mastered skills at different levels, after catching up on all of my grading, after getting my lesson plans in on time with the TEKS and the Reading Comprehension standards and the ELPS, I … Continue reading →

Are charter schools part of equitable educational choice? Do they and should they have a role in the educational landscape? There is a need for an honest, balanced discussion of charter schools. Charter Schools are tuition-free public schools, started by a variety of stakeholders for a variety of reasons. Charter schools have come under fire … Continue reading →

(Photo from the Youth Justice Coalition) In America, education is supposed to provide children with endless possibilities and the chance to enter into the profession or trade they love. From day one children are told that if they do their part, if they show up, sit down, shut up, and listen that they will be … Continue reading →

Kirsten Olson is a leading writer in the U.S. describing education from a student’s point of view. Her recent book Wounded By School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up To Old School Culture(2009) was one of the ten bestselling books at Teachers College Press this past year, and was nominated for Book of the Year … Continue reading →

Jaime R. Wood is founder of Dream School Commons, a nonprofit organization with the mission of starting innovative low-cost or no-cost schools that serve populations in need. She is also the author of Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom (NCTE 2006). She started her teaching career working with middle school students in an alternative charter school … Continue reading →

It was a classy affair with an attendance of perhaps fifty guests, and I was lucky enough to be granted an invitation to an exclusive screening of The Experiment at The New Orleans Museum of Art. I walked into the place – a tad bit under-dressed – and filled my hands with an Abita Amber … Continue reading →

I greatly admire Adam, his conviction, and his advocacy. When I saw him begin a conversation with Diane Ravitch, I jumped in, hoping that Ravitch would take my interest as incentive to respond to Adam. I wish all of our national leaders would spend some time discussing learning and stewardship with him. Ravitch did reply, … Continue reading →

In this 60 Minutes episode, “Charter School’s $125,000 Experiment,” Katie Couric reports on a New York City charter school experimenting with high salaries to attract great teachers, none of whom are provided the safety net of tenure. What do you think? Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education Author of Most Good, Least Harm, … Continue reading →

This is a repost from our Homeschooling Blog:Homegrown on Siskiwit Background: For the past two years, parents from a homeschool group in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, have been working on getting our local school district to approve a charter school. It is a parent driven initiative and we have all volunteered our time with no desire ever … Continue reading →

As a child of the late 60’s, I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie. The idea of a small one-room classroom where all ages of children learned appealed to me then and now. I happen to live in a small community on the South Shore of Lake Superior. Some of you may have … Continue reading →

How do you teach democracy? If we look at how schools are designed, do they promote or hinder our ability to create active and informed citizens? One of the reasons, I got into education is to help students find their voices. To create a space that welcomes and helps students become critical thinkers. On Monday, … Continue reading →

[Note: This is a guest post from Jamie Steckart, director of Minnesota’s Northwest Passage High School, an experiential learning dropout prevention and recovery program.] Northwest Passage High School is a small progressive public charter school located in Coon Rapids, MN. For the past 12 years, NWPHS has been educating students who have not thrived in … Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking about ways to subvert the systems of public education that have more to do with managing kids and producing test scores than with authentic learning. The best way to subvert public education might be to build collaborative relationships with students in pursuit of the knowledge, skills, and understandings they want to learn … Continue reading →

This is not a very complex issue to date. Systematically, our public education system has been about training students to sit still and listen to the information politicians, administrators, and teachers have determined is important for them to know. Their job is then to repeat back that information to confirm its transmission. Our current educational … Continue reading →